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This blog is dedicated to my mother who is my biggest inspiration and a true magician in the kitchen. The two of us have spent many memorable days together cooking up different things.
Most of the recipes that you'll find here are my own. And some are my family's or bits and parts of several recipes that I find on the net.

We had a beautiful sunny day today. Had a great big breakfast at Roxy's Diner in Fremont... and came home to this! The original sa...

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Sunday, March 7, 2010

Mochi Ice cream

The first of this month was one of those days... you know the ones when an old old friend you haven't heard from in ages, fifteen years to be exact, calls you right out of the blues.

What an over whelming feeling it is. Left me smiling all day long :-) Something sweet and decadent today. Here's to life's little indulgences! This one is for you Afshan, a beautiful mom of a precious baby boy. Thanks for totally making my day :-)

Mochi is a rice cake that is eaten in Japan specially around new year. They are stuffed with all sorts fruits and almost always anko (sweet red bean paste) however the ice cream filling is a relatively new concept. Mochi is traditionally made by pounding steamed sweet rice in a large wooden bowl. Here is a neat little video I found on YouTube that shows how its done!

Following is a recipe for basic sweet mochi sometimes coconut milk or green tea is used instead of water. Most recipes that I found used only rice flour. I added a bit of tapioca starch so that it will stay soft longer at room temp and also freeze well.

The above amounts would make enough mochi for one pint of ice cream.
I made two batches. The first I colored green for the Adzuki bean ice cream and the second I colored pink for the green tea ice cream.

The first step would be to scoop out the ice cream on a plate in eight equal portions and refreeze. Once they are hard you can round them off with your hands and freeze again.

Now lets make mochi :-)
The mixture will be steamed so use a steel mixing bowl that can fit inside a larger pot.
Fill the larger pot with about 1" of water. Since we are steaming this, it is important that the bottom of the bowl containing the mixture should never touch the water. Therefore place a stand or an inverted cup inside the large pot so that the small bowl can sit on top of it. You should be able to put a lid or a plate and seal the larger pot.
Sounds complicated? :-)
The rest is easier :-)
Combine the rice flour, tapioca starch, sugar and water. Mix really well don't want any lumps. Add food coloring just 2 drops were enough for a pastel shade.
Carefully place this bowl inside the steamer. Cover and steam on med heat for 15-18 mins. That's it.
It will be really really sticky :-)
Take out the dough on a clean surface which is dusted quite liberally with potato starch.
Knead it gently and roll it out in a log. Cut into eight equal parts.
Below is a picture of the frozen ice cream balls next to the mochi. I love the color contrast :-)

When the mochi is cold, roll out each section into a round disc about 5" diameter and roughly 1/4" thick. Place the ice cream ball in the center. Bring the sides up - twist, seal and break off the extra mochi in one sassy move.

Here is a lil video that explains it :-)
Let the mochi ice cream sit out for 5-8 minutes before biting into it!

I've tried making mochi a couple times now, and each time, after I refreeze the finished product, the dough becomes rock hard. The flavor is good, but it's very difficult to eat. I haven't tried steaming the dough as you do, but I have seen many recipes saying to microwave the dough for a couple minutes in a covered container, and so tried that. Microwaving seems like a plausible culprit, but have you ever had this happen with your recipe?

I am from India.I want to introduce this fine dessert "mochi icecream" in my country.This is totally new product for india.Will you please guide me in my following points?[1] Give me the Ingredients requirement in weight.Consider qty of mochi approx 100nos.[2]Can we use indian rice flour?What is specification of rice?[3]If we use directly rice flour in mochi icecream is there any change in taste?[4]From where we can get details mfg procss of mochi icecream?Regards,Chetan,India.patelo@gmail.com